The Easel

Archives: The Guardian

12th November 2024

The Great Mughals review – dazzling decorous delights waft you to paradise

The Mughals were a contradiction. They were violent, engaging in palace coups at home and military conquest abroad. Yet their courts were religiously tolerant and intellectually open, incorporating Central Asian, Persian and European influences. Immensely wealthy at their peak (about 1560 – 1660) their ravishing palaces were full of art, books and precious objects. Their floral patterning was widely influential. Their gardens were to die for. Which, eventually, they did. Images and background are here.